intern dives into the world of roll forming machines
At Pasterkamp Metal Sheet Solutions we believe in sharing knowledge and training young technical talent. Therefore, this spring it was again time for an instructive and practical internship! Our enthusiastic intern (third-year vocational student) immersed himself for four weeks in the technology behind our roll forming lines – and a surprising amount was involved. In this blog you can read what he experienced and learned.
From nothing to insight: the first encounter
When the intern walked into our office, he still knew little about roll forming, coils and pneumatics. But that quickly changed. Right in the first week he went to work in our workshop. Unpacking, measuring and checking machine components – a precise job.
A good example: the shafts of our machines are fitted with spacers that must be exactly the right size. Just a tenth of a millimeter of deviation can mean that the profile comes out of the machine crooked. Using a caliper, he checked dozens of bushings and discovered small deviations that could have a big impact later on.
Testing, fine tuning and troubleshooting
He spent most of his internship on site, at a customer where we had just installed a new roll forming line. This advanced line produces metal angle profiles and plaster profiles at high speed – fully automatically, including stacking and packaging.
But as it is with new installations, adjustment was a big job. Rolls had to be positioned exactly, the decoiler wasn’t running properly because of a misplaced coil, and even the wrappers’ PLC program had to be adjusted. The intern helped with swapping rolls, placing shims, and correcting small deviations that had major consequences.
A nice piece of independent thinking? He bit into the ladder diagram of the PLC (yes, with TONs, TOFs, EQUs and LES instructions) and managed to think along to a solution to the wrapping problem.
Small jobs, big learning moments
In addition to the major project at the customer’s site, he also helped with maintenance work. Think recalibrating blades in a cutting bench or replacing a sensor. Not spectacular tasks perhaps, but crucial to the functioning of our machines – and exactly the hands-on experience a tech-in-training grows from.
The intern in his own words
“When I started, I knew nothing about roll forming. Now I can explain to an outsider how such a machine works. I learned a lot about pneumatics, drives, and how to troubleshoot. It was an educational and fun internship.”
We say: mission accomplished!
For us, it is always nice to see how quickly young techies develop when you really take them into practice. As far as we are concerned, this internship was a success – and who knows, maybe we’ll see this intern again as a colleague in the future.
Would you also like to gain experience in a technically challenging environment with real machines? Then contact us for internships or apprenticeships. We like to train you in practice!
A look behind the scenes. Intern dives into the world of roll forming machines